My Spectra is irritating me...
Last week we had parent teacher conferences. Heater worked fine. Went to dinner, then home, heater worked fine.

Got up the next morning to go to work, the heater blew cold air, but on the way home I had the vent on cold (warm afternoon) and it only blew hot air from the floor vent, and cool air from the top vent (not the defrost area).
The following day, was cold air in all vent areas...

Checked all the buttons... checked fuses; replaced thermostat; replaced anti-freeze... no luck. The car temperature stays in the normal range, doesn't even try to over-heat, and it still blows cold air. One person says that its the heater core, another person says its the heat module; and yet another person says it might be clogged; and still someone at another garage says it has a 'bubble' ?????

The car is only 6 years old, has 90k miles on it and we've had the radiator flushed per the maintenance schedule.

The air conditioner blows fine- gets even more cold, switch it off, rev it up and the heat continues to be cold....

Someone please give me better imput- the mornings are really cold in Colorado this time of year, and I don't have patience to try everything under the sun to fix the problem.

My Spectra is irritating me...
Last week we had parent teacher conferences. Heater worked fine. Went to dinner, then home, heater worked fine.

Got up the next morning to go to work, the heater blew cold air, but on the way home I had the vent on cold (warm afternoon) and it only blew hot air from the floor vent, and cool air from the top vent (not the defrost area).
The following day, was cold air in all vent areas...

Checked all the buttons... checked fuses; replaced thermostat; replaced anti-freeze... no luck. The car temperature stays in the normal range, doesn't even try to over-heat, and it still blows cold air. One person says that its the heater core, another person says its the heat module; and yet another person says it might be clogged; and still someone at another garage says it has a 'bubble' ?????

The car is only 6 years old, has 90k miles on it and we've had the radiator flushed per the maintenance schedule.

The air conditioner blows fine- gets even more cold, switch it off, rev it up and the heat continues to be cold....

Someone please give me better imput- the mornings are really cold in Colorado this time of year, and I don't have patience to try everything under the sun to fix the problem.

The same thing has happened to me..

I have a 2000 sephia and i tried changing the bulbs in the heater/a/c controls and when i got done my car was dead, i had to jump it, and now the heater hasnt worked since..

it does the same thing tho, the a/c works but if you put on the heater it still blows cold air.. Ive checked all the cords behind it and its all hooked up right.. but could it be a fuse?

if it blows air fine, then I do not see a problem with the blower or clogged air ducts.
Since you said it was blowing hot/cold when setting was on hot I would suspect controller.
Do one thing. I am not sure if you can change air direction with engine off, but lets try.
Turn on ignition, set up the blower on the lowest speed and turn the knob from lets say windshield to the floor or anywhere else.
Did you hear some movement somewhere "under dash" (it will be quiet, so listen carefully)? If you did not, start the engine and do the same. If you heard it this time it means the engine has to be on.
Then, if you heard that leave it with any setting you had and turn the hot/cold knob from cold to hot (min to max) and listen. Repeat it in the other way. Repeat with engine on.
If you do not hear anything you it may confirm that the "cover", which directs the air from outside either on the heater core or bypass it, is broken, not working for some reason. It could be caused by faulty controller, by loose cables (there are pressured air cables) or even dirt.
Before going to fix it lets confirm heater core is getting hot. Find the two rubber hoses from inlet/outlet. The best would do it when engine is cold. Start it and check if the hoses are getting hot. Outlet should be colder on the beginning.

Some cars, although I do not suspect KIA for doing it, have a valve on inlet hose to the heater core. If you have this, inspect if it opens.

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the reason why i asked the year of the spectra and if it's had an aftermarket radio put in it is because i've seen situations where an aftermarket radio was installed on both a spectra with a mechanical based controller (earlier model spectras/sephias) and newer model spectras (02-04) which had an electronic controller. whoever put the radios in either bumped a cable on the controller or bumped a wire and caused it to loose a connection. i've also had to replace a few of the electronic based controllers because they have an internal problem and they aren't cheap.

the reason why i asked the year of the spectra and if it's had an aftermarket radio put in it is because i've seen situations where an aftermarket radio was installed on both a spectra with a mechanical based controller (earlier model spectras/sephias) and newer model spectras (02-04) which had an electronic controller. whoever put the radios in either bumped a cable on the controller or bumped a wire and caused it to loose a connection. i've also had to replace a few of the electronic based controllers because they have an internal problem and they aren't cheap.

What you are saying is that a loose wire or cable can cause the heater to stop working. There are a lot of wires and cables , can you be more specific to what wire or cable this may be, as my heater stopped working also in my 97 kia sephia.